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with natural woods, and these conld be crossed only by passes, 

 which the chieftains periodically agreed to cut for the troops 

 and for peaceful travellers. Ulster was, on the whole, rather 

 hilly, and it was easy to see how strong it must have been 

 when all the woods were still uncut, and there were practically 

 no roads, and drainage had not been thought of. The most 

 inaccessible forest was that of Glenconkein, now in the County 

 Derry, and it was supposed to have been one of the finest 

 forests in Europe at that period. In subsequent years it was 

 held out as a strong inducement to the great London com- 

 panies to take estates in the country, and they did not long 

 hesitate to cut down the woods, with their great oaks, and 

 ship them to England. No part of that forest remains at the 

 present day. These woods, in the absence of roads, and the 

 proximity of mountains, made the country particularly suited 

 for guerilla warfare. Fighting in Ireland was the serious 

 business of life, but soldiers, officials, and settlers found some 

 time for amusement also. Irish hawks, hounds, and horses 

 were all thought worthy to be sent as presents to great men 

 in England, and hawks were often made the subject of treaties 

 with the Irish chieftains. Red deer abounded all over the 

 country, and the Earl of Ossory kept a pack of hounds to hunt 

 the martens alone, the skins of which were much esteemed. 

 The poorer classes attended to the cattle, and fought for them 

 as for religion and life, and even when they were almost starved, 

 they would not kill a cow except it was old and yielded 

 no milk, yet would they upon hunger in time of war open the 

 veins of a cow and drink the blood, but in no case kill, or 

 much weaken it. The Scottish Highlanders bled their cattle 

 in this way up till the nineteenth century. There were fre- 

 quent alliances between the Irish chieftains and their 

 daughters and the English and Scotch nobility. The bagpipe 

 was commonly used in the field, and the harp in the hall, the 

 latter being seldom absent from the furniture of a gentle- 

 man's house; the portion of a bride in Tipperary being sworn 

 to as four score cows, four and twenty mares, five horses, a 

 pair of playing tables, and a harp, besides household stuff. 



